


North Venusian propaganda

by pozorvlak, twinkleflange



Category: Dan Dare (Comics), Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain (1942)
Genre: Counterinsurgency, Disasters, Gen, Post-Conflict Reconstruction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 05:17:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21505786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pozorvlak/pseuds/pozorvlak, https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinkleflange/pseuds/twinkleflange
Summary: "If a lie is only printed often enough, it becomes a quasi-truth, and if such a truth is repeated often enough, it becomes an article of belief, a dogma, and men will die for it." -- Isabella Blagden
Comments: 5
Kudos: 2





	1. Question 4 - Rhetoric

> Do you not understand the difference, O Treen? Those demands were to prevent aggression and slavery, two things on which we will never compromise. We of the Earth have learned our peacemaking in a hard school, and now we have a one-word policy for both victor and vanquished - **DISARMAMENT!**

These words were spoken, apparently _ex tempore_ , by Colonel Dan Dare of the Interplanet Space Fleet after the Battle of Mekonta, as part of the speech often referred to as the Mekonta Address.

a)Discuss Col Dare’s use of rhetorical devices, with reference to Aristotle’s _On Rhetoric_. (10 marks)

b) Compare and contrast the Mekonta Address to two of the other famous speeches you have studied this term. (30 marks)


	2. Advice for UN personnel stationed in North Venus

You are on your way to Venus, as part of the UN police action there. The totalitarian government of the Mekon was overthrown by a mostly civilian UN force under the leadership of General M'Bala, together with our Theron, Atlantean and Free Treen allies; your job is to maintain stability until a democratic government can be established for North Venus.

**About Venus**

Venus is the second planet in the Solar System, one planet closer to the Sun than Earth. Its atmosphere is breathable, and its gravity is about 90% of Earth's. Venus is separated into two distinct biospheres by the Flame Belt, a 1600-kilometre wide belt of volcanoes and lava around the planet's equator. Outside the Flame Belt, Venus is hotter and wetter than Earth, with the most densely populated areas experiencing a similar climate to Earth's tropics. If you're from a temperate part of Earth, you'll have to watch out for heatstroke.

The southern hemisphere is inhabited by the **Therons** , our allies. The Therons are dark-skinned humanoids with technology far in advance of ours. Like Earth people, they value freedom and individuality, and have a democratic form of government. You may not meet Therons on your tour, but you'll probably encounter their robots and semi-autonomous drones, and you'll be grateful for them!

The northern hemisphere of Venus is mostly populated by **Treens** , green-skinned reptiloids about 10% taller than humans. Until he was overthrown by the Allies, the Treens were ruled by the dictatorial **Mekon** , a Treen specially bred and raised for high intelligence. The Mekon’s regime was merciless and totalitarian, comparable to the worst dictatorships in Earth history, and endured for centuries. When you meet Treens, you may find that they have very little initiative and think them stupid, but they're not: the average Treen is about as intelligent as the average human. The difference is that Treens have had all the creativity and initiative beaten out of them for generations.

The final intelligent race on Venus is one you've probably heard about: the **Atlanteans** , the descendents of human captives brought to Venus by the Treens during Earth's Bronze Age. Since they were brought to Venus, they have evolved two adaptations which distinguish them from Earth people: their blue skin, which protects them from Venus’ greater exposure to solar radiation, and the lump in their forehead, which contains extra tear ducts and glands which help them stay awake throughout Venus' longer days.


	3. Information for North Venusians

**Why are the humans here?**

Humans came to Venus to ask for help with the food shortages on Earth. When we discovered that the Mekon planned to invade Earth and enslave all humans, we returned to help overthrow him, as part of an alliance of Earth people, Atlanteans, Therons and freedom-loving Treens.

Most of the humans who came here to fight the Mekon have now left and have been replaced by experts in recovering from disasters. The United Nations of Earth wants to help the people of North Venus to rebuild their society after the war. A small number of UN troops remain on Venus to help with reconstruction.

The UN troops are here to help. They are not occupiers or conquerors. The blue berets they wear are recognised all over Earth as symbols of peace and security.

**Who is Governor Sondar? What is the Provisional Government?**

Governor Sondar is an ordinary Treen who helped the Allied forces during the war against the Mekon. He is leading a temporary government, with the following duties: 

  * To carry out the Allies’ demands agreed to in the ceasefire agreement: the emancipation of all slaves, the disarmament of Treen military forces, and the end of Treen aggression.
  * To begin the process of reconstructing North Venusian infrastructure.
  * To draw up a democratic constitution for a permanent form of government, that respects the rights of all North Venusians.
  * To conduct elections according to the terms of that constitution, hand over to the new government, and then disband.



The Provisional Government consists of Treens and Atlanteans, with human and Theron advisers.

**I am hungry; will the Provisional Government supply me with food?**

The Provisional Government is working hard to re-establish supply of food, water and other necessities to all North Venusians. The fact that you have received this leaflet means that they know where you are and that help is on its way. Until help arrives, there are things you can do to help yourself: see the following pages for suggestions, including a guide to identifying and preparing edible wild plants.

**What is democracy?**

“Democracy” is an old human word meaning “rule by the people”. It means that the people choose their own leaders, who rule and make laws by the consent of the governed.

**What are “laws”? What is “the rule of law”?**

Laws are rules that everyone must obey, including members of the government. Laws sometimes specify punishments for breaking them. “The rule of law” is the idea that everyone is equal and subject to the law - rules cannot be ignored by those in power when they are inconvenient.

**What is a “constitution”?**

A constitution is a set of basic laws that describes how a government operates and how new laws can be made, and the rights which are guaranteed to all citizens.

**What are “rights”?**

Rights are certain fundamental freedoms that the government must not take away from you. It is a matter for North Venusians to draw up their own list of important rights, but Earth constitutions usually include at least the following:

  * **Freedom of speech** : you can say or write what you like - even criticise the government - without the government punishing you.
  * **Freedom of assembly** : you cannot be punished for who you gather with.
  * **Due process** : you cannot be punished unless you have broken a specific law, and if you are accused of breaking a law then there is an impartial process to determine if you have, and if so what your punishment should be. You cannot be punished simply on the say-so of someone in power.
  * **Freedom from torture:** you cannot be tortured, whether to extract information or as a punishment or for any other reason.



**What is an “election”?**

Elections are the process by which citizens of a democracy select their leaders. Typically several people put themselves forward as candidates for an office, and each voter is asked to choose one or more of the candidates to represent them. Then all the votes from all the voters are counted, and winners are determined. The winners then hold the office for a specified time, after which new elections are held. The precise details of which offices are available, who may stand for them, who may cast a vote, and how the votes are aggregated are all matters for the new North Venusian Constitution to specify.

**What will happen to the Atlanteans?**

This is a matter for the North Venusian people to decide for themselves. However, the Allies will only accept outcomes which guarantee the rights of both Treens and Atlanteans. There must be no more slavery on Venus.


	4. Phone-in radio show, North American administrative region

“We have a very special guest in the studio today: Pilot-Captain Hank Hogan, IPSF, native son of Houston, Texas, one of the six members of the Venus Expedition. Hank, welcome to the show.”

“It’s a pleasure to be here, Roberta.”

“Let’s take some calls.”

“Hi, this is Dave Kazarnowicz of Chicago, and I’ve got a question for Captain Hogan. Well, more of a comment, really. Anyway, I was a member of UNPD SWAT for nearly fifteen years - “

“Thank you for your service, Dave.”

“ - and here’s the thing. You know that photo of Dan Dare and Sondar throwing grenades into the Mekon’s control room?”

“ _Bombs Away_ , by Stephanie Ngo, yeah, it won a Pulitzer.”

“OK, so: there is _no way_ my squad would have let a brass hat like Dare accompany us on a raid, let alone a potential enemy agent like Sondar. You ask me, the whole thing is fake. Someone photoshopped them onto the real raid photo to make Dare look good, and to tie Sondar’s colors to the mast. Where does a spaceship designer even learn to throw a grenade, anyway?”

“Hank, I’m sorry, you don’t have to respond to that, this is clearly ridiculous.”

“No, that’s OK, Roberta, I’d like to respond. Dave: I wasn’t on that raid, but as I understand it Sondar accompanied the police commando squad as a guide. He can throw a grenade because he grew up in a military dictatorship: he's probably been doing grenade practice since he could walk. As for Dan - look, you’re right that it’s incredibly irregular for an officer of his rank to get involved in a field op. But you'd understand if you'd met him. He leads from the front. It's what he does. It's who he _is._ "


	5. Handbill from a New York lamp-post

TAKEN FROM THEIR HOME

ENSLAVED FOR CENTURIES

NOW THE UN OCCUPIERS ARE TAKING THE FOOD FROM THEIR FIELDS

**BLUE LIVES MATTER!**

MARCH FOR ATLANTEAN RIGHTS

UN HEADQUARTERS, SATURDAY 1PM


	6. Report to the UN Security Council on the North Venusian police action

**Summary**

Though the military overthrow of the Mekonist regime was a swift and overwhelming success, the reconstruction and democratization of North Venus will be a complex and difficult process that will take years, if not decades. The Provisional Government of North Venus (PGNV), assisted by UN and Theron experts, has made great strides in restoring basic services to their people, but they remain politically vulnerable, and it is likely that their successor government will inherit that vulnerability. Neither Treens nor Atlanteans have any familiarity with democratic norms, and it is unclear how they will take to the establishment of an Earth-style democracy. The Atlantean question is becoming increasingly urgent, and will be a huge issue for both internal North Venusian politics and Earth/Venus relations.

**Security**

Almost all the civilian volunteers who took part in the invasion have now been withdrawn, leaving behind a UN police/military force of 10,000. The Treen security forces, even more accustomed to obeying orders than the average Treen, have readily cooperated with the PGNV, surrendering their weapons (see report from UN weapons inspectors at Appendix A) and assisting with physical reconstruction efforts. Atlantean irregular forces have, with some difficulty, been persuaded to stand down and disarm: however, it must be borne in mind that they were able to hide weapons from Treen enslavers for centuries. Atlantean regular soldiers, unwilling to accept orders from Treens any longer, have been temporarily absorbed into the UN force structure under a mixture of seconded Earth officers and newly-commissioned Atlanteans - under the Mekonist regime they were treated as cannon fodder and had no officer corps of their own.

The Therons have no armed forces, but have supplied a large number of volunteers (and a much larger number of semi-autonomous machines) to help with relief efforts. Their technology is far in advance of ours, and their industrial capacity is enormous, but they have little disaster-relief expertise: it has been centuries since they had to deal with a significant disaster, let alone one on this scale.

There is - _as yet_ \- no Mekonist resistance movement among the Treens. However, the longer Earth troops are on the streets and the longer shortages continue, the more likely one will develop. The Mekon's body has still not been found, fuelling rumours of his survival.

**Economics**

Most of the weapons used by the Therons in the Theron-Treen War took the form of rays that disabled machinery rather than destroying it outright; hence, the PGNV has been able to restart many important factories and restore supply of food, water, and other basic goods to the cities. North Venus is now producing more food than it needs, and the PGNV has begun shipping the excess to Earth. However, the final days of the war saw an almost total breakdown of law and order in North Venus, with the usual horrific effects (see Appendix B): restoring more advanced services, and supply to outlying regions, will take several more months. The North Venusian transport network was under tight central control, based around Electrosenders (high-speed vacuum maglev trains) and magnetic aircraft that drew power from central towers: self-powered go-anywhere vehicles were rare. UN and Theron aircraft have been kept busy delivering emergency supplies to areas where the transport infrastructure has broken down. Venus is extremely fertile, and wild food is readily available in most rural areas, but Treens are so used to industrial food production that they don't think to look for such sources; airdropping leaflets containing foraging advice has been somewhat successful. Supply breakdown in rural areas has led to an influx of refugees into the already-struggling cities, increasing crowding.

Basic medical supplies are stretched but adequate for now; this would change should any major disease break out. Though the Therons have a decent theoretical understanding of Treen biology, they have little practical knowledge of Treen medicine; should an epidemic break out among the Treens, it is likely that human and Theron medical personnel would be able to help very little. Pre-war Treen medicine was heartless; seriously ill Treens were usually declared “useless” and allowed to die.

The Atlanteans were kept in extremely primitive conditions by the Mekonist regime (see Appendix C); this means that they were much less affected by the collapse of the Mekonist government than were the more urban Treens.

**Government**

The PGNV has taken over the command apparatus of the Mekonist government without difficulty. Senior Treen administrators have all - outwardly at least - accepted Sondar as Governor and carry out his instructions. There have been a number of incidents where instructions were followed to the letter rather than in spirit, causing foreseeable problems; it is difficult to know whether this is deliberate Svejkian resistance or simply a hangover from the previous dictatorial regime. Treen administrators were expected not to show any initiative and punished for deviating at all from their orders; UN personnel expecting to work with them as colleagues and equals have experienced severe culture shock.

The Constitutional Committee is now sitting, and drawing up a Constitution with the advice of human and Theron legal scholars. Staffing the committee was unexpectedly difficult, because the Treens had only the most basic idea of law, and no concept of sapient rights - under the previous regime, the word of the Mekon was law, and his whim was death. A call was put out for volunteers, but the idea of volunteering was completely alien to the Treens and no volunteers were forthcoming. The committee was eventually staffed with a mixture of Atlantean tribal elders and Treen software engineers and factory foremen. Standing orders and computer code are not law, but they were the closest things the Treens had.

Sondar himself was a spaceship designer before the war, with no experience of command. However, he has proved a fast learner under the instruction of Colonel Dare, and now wields power more assuredly. He has advanced in a short period of time from blindly accepting instructions from UN and Theron experts to understanding, challenging and reframing them for Treen consumption; he has been crucial to Allied/Treen cooperation and the success of the reconstruction effort so far. However, his political position is extremely fragile. It would be very easy for hostile elements to frame him as a traitor and collaborator with his race’s historic enemies. His politics are unclear, apart from his hatred of the Mekon and his personal loyalty to Col. Dare. It is not clear whether Sondar has any plans to run for public office in a permanent government.

The question of war-crimes trials for senior Mekonist officials has been put off for now, but cannot be avoided forever.

**The Atlanteans**

The discovery that the Treens had been keeping humans as slaves for millennia shocked the Earth, a shock that only deepened when the extent of the human-rights violations committed against the Atlanteans became apparent (see again Appendix C, also D, E and F). UN personnel were understandably disturbed by what they found; reprisals against Treen slave-masters by Earth troops have not yet come to light, but would be unsurprising. The Atlantean uprising during the Battle of Mekonta included a number of massacres of surrendered Treens: see Appendix G. The question of war-crimes trials for those involved has been similarly deferred, but must eventually be faced.

A number of local UN unit commanders have turned a blind eye to fraternisation between Earth troops and Atlanteans; when troops are withdrawn there will be a number of “GI brides” (and husbands) to deal with. More tragically, Atlanteans (unlike Treens) are vulnerable to human diseases, and have no immunity to any microbes that have evolved since the Bronze Age; this has resulted in a number of Atlanteans falling ill after contact with UN personnel, and at least one death. Only a crash programme of vaccinations (with vaccines synthesized _in situ_ using Theron biotechnology) has prevented a pandemic. The lower numbers of the Atlanteans will have reduced the rate at which diseases evolved among them, and no killer Atlantean disease has yet emerged, but it is to be expected that their biomes will have some nasty surprises for the mother planet.

There is very little appetite among the Atlanteans for peaceful coexistence with the Treens. Many would like to enslave the Treens: they resent the UN for not helping them with this task. Others have spoken of reparations from the Treens for centuries of slavery; yet more have spoken of a desire - or even a right - to return to Earth. The logistical challenges of repatriating a quarter of a billion Atlanteans - let alone absorbing them into an Earth still suffering from food shortages - hardly need stating. Similarly, the difficulties with another proposed solution - the creation of an Atlantean homeland on Venus - should be obvious from a passing knowledge of Earth history.

The Atlantean desire for vengeance is largely held in check by personal appeals from Colonel Dare, who many Atlanteans believe to be a reincarnation of the culture-hero Kargaz. This belief is waning, but he still commands considerable respect for his role in the liberation of the Atlanteans.

The Treens are, frankly, terrified of the Atlanteans. Like all slave-holders, they have long feared a slave uprising; their former slaves now walk freely among them, enabled by foreign invaders of the same species.

**Conclusion**

The occupation of North Venus, though undertaken for the best reasons, still has the potential to become a humanitarian catastrophe. In many cases the problems have been complicated by field-expedient decisions made in the heat of the moment by military personnel with no diplomatic training. It is essential that the drawdown of human troops is completed on time and, if possible, accelerated, before their presence provokes an insurgency.


	7. Memo from Sir Hubert Guest, IPSF

DAN - A little bird sent me a copy of the attached document, and I thought you should know what they're saying about you in New York. The doom-and-gloom stuff is a power-grab by the Diplomatic chappies, who have an interest in making it look like the Fleet is making a hash of things. Leave them to me - just keep doing what you're doing already.

It's very likely that they'll try to promote you out of the way - goodness knows you've earned a promotion after this, but it's something to watch out for.

The first shipment of Venus-grown food arrived, and played wonderfully on television. A handful of the usual suspects complained about importing food from a planet that's suffering a famine of its own, but everyone else is too glad to be able to fill their bellies for a change. How's it gone over at your end?

Give my love to Professor Peabody. Brilliant idea of hers about the leaflets. And send my regards to Digby and Sondar.


	8. Memo from Col Dan Dare, IPSF liaison to Governor Sondar

Thanks, Sir Hubert. Nothing they've said is _wrong_ , per se, but they've put the gloomiest possible cast on everything. We've got a brilliant team here, and everything's on or ahead of schedule. We'll prepare a report of our own setting the record straight.

I was worried about the optics of sending food to Earth so soon - as you know, we're shipping food to all the Treen refugees we can reach as fast as the transport network allows, and our choice is to either ship the excess to Earth or leave it in the fields to rot - but Sondar assures me that even starving Treens are thoroughly logical people and will accept the logistical arguments. I wish I could share his confidence.

The leaflets have been a huge success; they've given us a lot of breathing room around fixing the Electrosenders, and have freed up a lot of aircraft for other uses. But mostly I think it offended the Prof’s professional pride as a botanist to see people starving surrounded by edible plants. She sends her regards, as do Dig and Sondar.


	9. Leaflet found in Mekonta

TREENS!

Do not trust the humans!

They fought on the side of our ancient enemies, the Therons.

They freed the Atlanteans, who massacred us mercilessly and want to enslave us.

They say they want to be our friends, but their blue hats show that they really side with the Atlanteans.

They take our food while Treens starve in the countryside.

They tried to kill our rightful leader, the Mekon.

Do not listen to Sondar. He is a traitor to the Treens.

He was a wanted criminal, who joined with the enemy to save his own skin.

We are the voice of the Mekon!

Watch for the sign of our rising.

Until then, **resist**!

Pretend to misunderstand their orders. They already think you are stupid.

Sabotage their equipment when they are not looking.

Do not participate in their “elections”.

Collaboration with the humans will be noted and punished.

**Resist!**

**Author's Note:**

> Almost uniquely among my friendship group, I did not oppose the 2003 Iraq War. "Yes, people will be killed and injured in the invasion, and the WMD thing is a transparent attempt to manufacture a _casus belli_ ," I thought, "but Saddam Hussein is an evil totalitarian dictator to an extent not really appreciated by most Westerners, and the Americans are _good_ at post-conflict reconstruction. Look at Germany and Japan after World War 2. Meanwhile, economic sanctions are killing Iraqi children by the thousand: the current situation is totally untenable."
> 
> As swiftly became apparent, I was wrong about the knock-on effects of the war, and for years I wondered where I'd made a mistake. I got some answers from reading the book _Imperial Life in the Emerald City_ , which paints a picture of a reconstruction effort that was not only ideologically-driven and staffed by people who had no idea what they were doing, but _actively hindered those who did know what they were doing_. Per the book, the State Department had hundreds of experts in every aspect of post-conflict reconstruction on the ground in Kuwait, with a detailed plan ready to go the minute the Ba'athist regime fell, but Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon not only kept them out of Iraq, it went to great lengths to conceal the very existence of the State Department's plan from the people who were leading the reconstruction.
> 
> Which, in a roundabout way, led to me thinking of Dan Dare. _Dan Dare_ , for those of you who haven't encountered it before, is something like a British _Star Trek_ , but sixteen years earlier and in many ways more progressive. Kirk had a black crew member: Dare had a black commanding officer, albeit briefly. Dan's speech about disarmament is taken verbatim from the comic (I will never forgive Garth Ennis for his jingoistic 2007 reboot). _Star Trek_ posits a nuclear holocaust that causes Humanity to finally pull together: _Dan Dare_ had no need to make up such a thing, because its audience had just lived through the deadliest conflict in human history. Europe and much of Asia lay in ruins, as is clear from the other work referenced in this fic, _Instructions to American Servicemen in Britain 1942_ , and its yet-more-depressing sequels _...in France 1944_ and _...in Germany 1945_. The MacGuffin driving the plot of the first _Dan Dare_ adventure is food for a starving Earth: the comic's audience were still living under food rationing. Meanwhile, the UN had just started fighting a war to defend South Korea from invasion: it's easy for us to see that as a continuation of Great Power politics now, but maybe at the time they saw it as the fitful dawn of a new age of world unity. This was the age in which post-conflict reconstruction was actually happening on a large scale. How would its heroes cope with an Iraq-like challenge? Better than we did in reality, I think.
> 
> But _Dan Dare_ is a product of its time in other ways: it takes the British Empire's propaganda of bringing civilisation and development to "backward and savage" nations and projects it forward. Yes, there's a world government and everyone is equal, but the whole thing is still being run on recognisably Anglo-American lines. The African general talks like he went to Sherborne, and he probably did. To say the least, the people who were on the receiving end of this project did not always appreciate it. Which brings me to the final two books which inspired this fic: _The War of the Flea_ by Robert Taber, a summary of Mao and Guevara's writings on guerrilla warfare and insurgency, and _The Good Soldier Švejk_ by Jaroslav Hašek, a novel that has often been described as a resistance manual for life under totalitarianism.
> 
> Finally, a warning: we have learned a lot about planetary science since 1950. Do not go fighting with your land army on the mainland in Venus. They will melt.


End file.
